The inventions below relate the field of internet communications.
Recently, radiobroadcasters have begun transmitting their audio content over the internet, allowing consumers to listen to radio stations received over the internet and played through computer speakers. For a home user to receive radio station xe2x80x9cnetcastsxe2x80x9d over the internet, the user must have a personal computer, an internet account, browser software such as Internet Explorer(copyright) or Netscape Navigator(copyright), an audio processing software xe2x80x9cplug-inxe2x80x9d capable of processing audio information, and a radio simile graphical interface. The browser software must be purchased and/or downloaded from any one of various browser software companies, such as America Online, Microsoft, or Netscape. The audio processing software must be purchased and downloaded from other companies (Apple Computer""s QuickTime(copyright) software, RealPlayer""s RealAudio(copyright), and Microsoft""s Windows Media Player software are examples). Radio simile graphical interface software must be purchased and downloaded from yet another company (Digiband Radio and MacTuner are examples of radio simile interface software). None of the browsers are compatible with all the audio processing software, and none of the audio processing software is compatible with all the radio simile graphical interface software. A typical end user must be extremely lucky to install all the necessary components with proper cross compatibility. The end result, if it can be achieved, is the ability to access a web site sponsored by one of the software suppliers, review a database of radio station web sites maintained by the software supplies, and link to the radio station web site from the database.
The inventions described below provide devices and method for receiving radio broadcasts over the internet in a device which resembles a typical radio receiver. The hardware is housed in a radio box separate from a personal computer, and the interface is a panel of physical radio knobs, buttons, FM and AM channel indicators, etc., on the radio housing. Inside the radio box, necessary computer components and software permit connection to the internet and communication with various sources of audio information. In one embodiment, the device is a completely stand-alone device which a consumer can plug into a telephone line, ISDN line, local area network, or cable line and select radio stations with the same type of controls as a typical radio. In another embodiment, the device is a box which communicates with the internet through the user""s personal computer, which must then have an internet connection and internet software installed and operating.
Aspects of the interface are modeled on broadcast radio receivers. For example, the internet radio presents linear tuning selection, making it natural to xe2x80x9ctunexe2x80x9d to the xe2x80x9cnextxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cpreviousxe2x80x9d stations by imposing a linear architecture on web radio stations identifiers. Since most radio listeners select radio stations based on frequency indications on their broadcast radio receivers, a frequency band can be used as station identifiers to impose the linear architecture. However, several broadcasters throughout the world may use the same frequency in different geographical locations (the assignment to frequency bands is regulated to ensure that stations using the same frequency are so far apart that interference is unlikely). Radio stations are generally tied to geographic locations, and they generally broadcast content that is relevant the geographic area. Accordingly, the internet radio may be provided with a selector system for selecting a geographic area for tuning, after which the user can tune to stations based on frequency.
The internet radio provides an easy way to tune to radio stations all over the world, as naturally as a user would tune to local FM and AM stations. A listener in New York might want to hear a Tokyo based morning show over breakfast (in New York), so it is advantageous to provide a system for delaying broadcast reception several hours. This can be done in a specialized internet server which stores the data and sends it out again at a later time. Different users could request different streams of the same original source but which were delayed by different amounts.